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NHL Picks

NHL Pick: Cappers Lays Heavy Juice with Wild -168 Over Flames

Our NHL consultant breaks down tonight's game between Calgary and Minnesota. Join us in reading this informative betting preview article on this contest which concludes with a money line selection.

Flames in the Excel Energy Center
The Minnesota Wild will host the Calgary Flames on Friday at 8:05 PM ET. According to the NHL betting odds at Heritage, Minnesota is a -168 money line favorite, and the posted total is 5.0. This is the third meeting of the season between these Western Conference teams. The first two were played in Calgary with Minnesota winning on each occasion by scores of 1-0 and 3-2.

Playoff Picture for both Teams
The Calgary Flames enter today on the outside looking in regarding the upcoming 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. They’re now fourth in the Pacific Division, one point behind the Los Angeles Kings, and have eight games remaining in the regular season. Tonight will be the start of a five game in eight day road trip. Calgary concludes the regular season with three straight home games. They also trail Winnipeg by 3-points and Minnesota by 4-points in the Western Conference wild card chase. On a positive note, they have one game in hand on Winnipeg.

Flames High Risk and High Reward Offensive Attack
The good news for the Flames, they’ve averaged 3.4 goals per game during the month of March. The bad news, they’ve allowed 3.1 goals per game, and have gone 3-5 in the last eight versus the money line. Despite those lofty goal scoring numbers in both facets of their game, they’ve somehow managed to go under the total in four of the previous five contests. Calgary has been one of the more profitable road teams in the NHL this season, going 19-16 versus the money line, and hypothetically made $100 a game players $1140.

Red-Hot Wild
The Minnesota Wild has won the last three and twenty-one of their last twenty-six games against the money line. They’ve been resurgent since acquiring goaltender Devan Dubnyk in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes. Dubnyk has started in thirty-two straight games for the Wild, going 24-8, with a superb 1.82 GAA, and posted five shutouts.

Final Analysis
The Minnesota Wild is averaging 2.9 goals per game this season. That’s not good news for the Calgary Flames since they’ve gone 4-18 against the money line this season, versus opponents that average 2.85 or more goals per game. This is going to be one of those rare occasions I’m going to lay the heavy juice when making my NHL picks.